You’ve Arrived At Destination Think Welcome! Drop your bags, and join us in the lounge. We’d like to tell you our story and what it took to get us here.

Who we were back then

Nearly a decade ago, two adventurous Australians named Rodney and Ben, convinced a group of Australian tourism boards that the best way to promote the country to the much-desired US student market was to actually get on a bus, travel around America and talk to them. They called it the “Platypus Express” – and it worked. They met, inspired and started to build a community of students who had a shared passion for travelling.

This happened at exactly the same time as another community of students with shared passions was growing – you might have heard of it – a little something called Facebook. We saw the opportunity for tourism, and started helping destinations to create early-days apps that focused around the fun aspect of travel and adventure.

Think Social Media (whose logo was designed by a friend in exchange for a six-pack of beer) was created in 2009 to help destinations navigate a changing and social landscape. And because all companies need to strengthen their strategies, that’s where William Bakker, former eMarketing Director at Destination British Columbia, came in. He joined as a partner, bringing a wealth of destination marketing and management experience and direction.

Who we were yesterday

Over the years, we evolved into a full-service agency, and we continue to adapt as quickly as that changing marketing landscape.

We know our industry inside and out. And we’ve hired the best people in the business to represent it. Our international team is made of skilled experts who come from destination marketing and management, hospitality, digital media and agency worlds, and across our four offices we’ve worked with hundreds of destinations.

We are a truly global organization, considered among the world leaders in destination marketing. Our partners and team members have spoken at conferences on five continents, and we even run the most innovative tourism marketing conference, SoMeT, on three of them. We’ve spent five years learning how to influence word-of-mouth, and along the way we expanded far beyond social media.

Who we are today

Today, we are Destination Think

We are a unique blend of strategic consultancy and an integrated marketing agency, with a laser focus on destinations.

With all we have learned, we’re now focused on working with a core group of the most innovative destinations on earth. We’re strengthening our business relationships, providing both a vision for our clients’ futures, and comprehensive and integrated marketing services, to help them get there.

Our focus has led us to conversations with destinations that are struggling to find the right kind of support from their traditional agency partners. As our relationships with clients grow, we have helped them with projects and services that reach far beyond what would be considered “social media”.

We’ve fully integrated campaigns (including email database acquisition, email marketing, web, digital, SEM, video production, design and much more). We’ve even helped destinations to rethink their organizational structures. Having a seat at the planning table is what we do best; for destinations and their marketing strategy.

Social media is no longer just one part of the mix of options to reach consumers. It touches every aspect of a DMO. As this concept of “social business” becomes the norm, our greatest strength has become a limiting factor. The “social media” in our name didn’t accurately tell our story.

The first effect of our name change is to reflect the breadth of our services. These are the innovative services where we add most value to our destination clients:

• Tourism and marketing strategy
• Creative, integrated campaigns
• Digital marketing
• Implementation, content and social media management
• Research and benchmarking
• Service design and product development.

As Destination Think, we will continue to expand our services to support our clients, by providing solutions to the challenging business issues they face, and creating and engineering more remarkable experiences within their destinations.

What we look like

Nothing against a logo that was created for a six-pack of beer. It has served us well. But like our organization, it had to change.

Our new logo reflects our creativity, and the trip we’ve taken. Our box is rarely closed, and there’s simply no lid to it. The destinations we work with are at the centre of our business. We believe in working as an integrated part of a team to ensure that objectives and goals are exceeded. Our passion for travel and for the extraordinary experiences it brings is why we do what we do.

What it all means

It’s business as usual for Destination Think… though we’d prefer to think of it as “Business Better Than Usual.”

The addition of “Destination” to the front of Think reflects our focus on destination marketing. We want to let the world know what we’re really passionate about.

We also understand that for our clients, amazing results are only one part of the equation. We want to ensure that everyone who works with us is inspired throughout the experience. We want the people we reach to be inspired by the destination. We want these travelers to have inspiring experiences when they get there. That’s how we determine our success.

Welcome to Destination Think We’re glad you’ve arrived. Thank you for coming with us on this journey!